With the advent of Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (i.e., VoIP) telephony, it has become important that data networks be capable of efficiently handling time-sensitive voice traffic. The traditional approaches to ensuring the prioritization of telephony data over traditional network data are often based on the use of various “class of service” and “quality of service” techniques. The class of service/quality of service parameters are typically configured on the network relay devices to which the VoIP endpoint devices (e.g., telephones, handsets, videophones, etc.) are attached. Unfortunately, these configurations are typically static and do not adjust in response to the quantity of VoIP data being generated by the VoIP endpoint devices.
These problems are only compounded when considering emergency calls (e.g., 911 calls), as it is difficult to ensure that emergency calls are handled with a heightened level of urgency within the data network. Unfortunately, VoIP protocols (e.g., H.323 or Session Initiation Protocol) do not readily interact with the network devices through which they are transmitted and, therefore, it is currently difficult to assign a higher level of urgency to emergency calls.